Parliament stalemate continued on Tuesday as Opposition members remained adamant on discussing the Delhi riots in which at least 46 people have died and over 260 injured.
The Lok Sabha witnessed shoving, blocking ways and shouting at each other to the degree that Speaker Om Birla had to adjourn the House thrice.
As soon as the House met for the third time at 2 pm Speaker Om Birla said he held discussions with the government and the opposition MPs and the government has agreed to discuss the Delhi riots on March 11, a day after Holi.
However, the opposition members continued to raise slogans in the House and demanded immediate discussion over the Delhi riots.
Earlier in the day, Birla adjourned the House till noon after the opposition protested against the ban on placards inside Parliament and kept on raising the issue of discussing the anti-CAA Delhi riots. Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and DMK leaders started raising the issue of debating the violence.
Ahead of the Budget session, the Speaker had put forward two very straight conditions in front of members in a bid to end the stalemate.
The first condition he put in front of all members that if treasury bench members cross over to the opposition side or the opposition members do the same by crossing over to the treasury benches, the concerned MPs will face suspension. Secondly, the Opposition parties were warned against bringing placards inside the House.
The House was adjourned for a second time within four minutes after it met again as the opposition members continued to raise slogans.
Meanwhile, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad asserted on Tuesday that the government is ready to debate on the Delhi violence on March 11.
Reasoning the choice of the date, Prasad told the media: “It should be our common effort to ensure amity, understanding and peace in Delhi. Peace has returned to Delhi today. Normalcy is also returning.”
He added that the government’s priority was to ensure that Holi could be “celebrated” in an atmosphere of “brotherhood”.
On Monday, the first day of the second leg of the Budget session, a ruckus broke out over the issue of the Delhi violence in the Lok Sabha. Amid the uproar, there was pushing and shoving among the MPs, which led to allegations and counter-allegations between the opposition and treasury benches.
It all started when Congress members came over to the treasury benches as BJP’s chief whip in the Lok Sabha, Sanjay Jaiswal was speaking in the House. Soon, BJP members like Ramesh Bidhuri came to Jaiswal’s rescue.
Later, Congress MP Ramya Haridas complained to the Lok Sabha Speaker against BJP MP Jaskaur Meena, while BJP’s Dausa representative too complained against the Congress.
A group of women members of Parliaments too met Om Birla to raise the issue of alleged attack on Meena and its Chikkamagaluru MP Shobha Karandlaje. Calling it a “perverse desire to vitiate the proceedings”, she asked for the expulsion of the Congress MP.
On Monday, the opposition had demanded Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s resignation over the handling of Delhi violence.
Meanwhile, the Rajya Sabha has been adjourned till 11 am Wednesday after Congress and ruling BJP leaders engaged in heated conversations over the Delhi clashes.
In Rajya Sabha, trouble broke out when Anurag Thakur rose to read a one-line statement laying listed papers on the table and the opposition benches started booing him.